gs1100ez fork seals

[GS1100ez]

well fork seals started to leak

did some reading
just want to verify a few things

i have the anti dive units

sooo

should my process be:

drain fork oil
pull up for boots
pull off fancy retainer clips under boots
unscrew air cap
add air into the forks
this will pressurize both forks at the same time, so should pop both sealsbut i dought at the same time, so how do i make it so air only goes into the other fork after the first seal pops??

then take the fork off and remove cap and spring and flush out

now if i get the seals out this way do i have to remove the hex and 5/8" sparkplug socket thinggy on the inside of the fork?

thanks
i printed out a few how toos
and have the manual
but it doesnt say anything about the air pressure way
i figured i would try that way first

any other helpful hints would be nice too
thanks

 

[subforry]

I just did this on my GS850, but I took the forks apart. If you use the air pressure trick you do not have to disassemble the forks (separate the upper inner shaft and lower outer fork).

I disassembled my forks. The seals were really hard to pry out and I would be surprised if the air could have forced them out. I used a pry tool that looks like a big dental pick. A proper seal puller would be good but any pry bar type tool can work. Wear safety glasses when prying the seal out. I was surprised that I didn't break the tool.

Also I used a small diameter brass tube and a monoject to set the fluid height. Mark the tube, use a small clamp or clothespin to stop the tube at the top of the fork and then use the monoject to suck the fluid out to the right level.

All in all the job was not that difficult, good luck.

 

[subforry]

including a pic of some the tools I used. The seal press is a pvc 1 1/2 to 3/4 adapter - worked great.

 

[GS1100ez]

ok
good to know
i got the leak proof seals so no pvc for me i read
ill try air first
if that doesnt work ill just take them all apart

 

[Guest]

If you have access to an impact I just hit the bottom allen bolts before taking the springs out. If it still spins hit it with a little heat to loosen up the loctite.

 

[GS1100ez]

got the fork seals out
popped pretty easy

took the forks out of the triple trees
gonna clean them out in the aprts cleaner at work today

oil was black and nasty

im going to take apart the antidive units too see if i cant clean them up some too
when taking the top half off with the bleeder there is some crusty stuff in between the 2 parts

so ill give everything a good cleaning up

 

[Guest]

If you take the anti-dives apart there is an o-ring you may want to replace.

 

[GS1100ez]

are they special type of o rings?
or can i use ones out of my metric ring set?

 

[Guest]

are they special type of o rings?
or can i use ones out of my metric ring set?

Actually there are two per fork so four all together.
I bet your o-ring kit has the right pieces.

 

[GS1100ez]

ok sounds good to me

anything special while they are apart i should look at?
or just dissasemble
flush
new seals
reassemble

 

[Guest]

ok sounds good to me

anything special while they are apart i should look at?
or just dissasemble
flush
new seals
reassemble

The o-rings chef is talking about are the ones that seal the anti-dive to the forks. If your talking about breaking down the internals of the anti-dive that is another matter. I believe (This is from memory so I may be a little off here) there is 1 o-ring and 3 flat o-rings and they are not standard size which two must be made of a material that can live in a brake fluid environment. I was able to get a close match to the o-ring but not the flat ones, I just ended up cleaning them up and reusing. I didn't have blanking plates so I just re-installed them without the brake lines, so far no problems.

-Dave

 

[GS1100ez]

i figured i would break them apart while i have the forks apart
make sure everything is good and clean
like i said when i took the top half off the anitdive unit there was some crusty stuff there

 

[GS1100ez]

Got it all done and aired up
Only for the fitting to break after putting the cap on
Painted the forks up
Cleaned the antidive didn't not disassemble them

Took for a short ride no leaks
While disassembled I noticed the caps where at different settings
All nice and even now

The air fill hole is at the height that the fluid should be at according to the manual which is convenant aswell

 

[Guest]

got the fork seals out
popped pretty easy

took the forks out of the triple trees
gonna clean them out in the aprts cleaner at work today

oil was black and nasty

im going to take apart the antidive units too see if i cant clean them up some too
when taking the top half off with the bleeder there is some crusty stuff in between the 2 parts

so ill give everything a good cleaning up

I'm about to replace the seals in my 1100. The air removal idea sounds great but like I've seen mentioned did both seals come out at about the same time?

 

[Airstream]

Got it all done and aired up
Only for the fitting to break after putting the cap on
Painted the forks up
Cleaned the antidive didn't not disassemble them

Took for a short ride no leaks
While disassembled I noticed the caps where at different settings
All nice and even now

The air fill hole is at the height that the fluid should be at according to the manual which is convenant as well

Just did my seals. Of course I only noticed that the air fill hole was at the correct height after making a mess. I was using an oil level siphon tool to check the height which I didn't need.

 

[Airstream]

Here's a pic of the tool I used to stop the damper rod from turning. Threaded rod with 4 3/8 nuts on it.

http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy123/airstream_album/Suzuki1983GS110EDforktool.jpg

http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy123/airstream_album/SuzukiGS1100EDforktool2.jpg

I just stood the rod upright with one end in an adjustable wrench on the floor, and with the fork leg inverted on the other end loosened the bolt. Used it the same way to tighten the bolt, with some thread locker of course. Fork seals removed be pulling quick and hard a couple of times on fork tube.

The bike has had the anti dive hoses removed. Not by me. Should I be using the same oil level (195 mm)? Would somebody normally remove these and not change to aftermarket springs?